


Slimy

by lizard_socks



Category: Crusader of Centy (Video Game)
Genre: Bodyswap, M/M, Monster Transformation, Monsters, POV Second Person, Queerplatonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, Sad with a Happy Ending, Transformation, slime transformation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizard_socks/pseuds/lizard_socks
Summary: Like everyone else at your age, you left home to fight monsters and protect your village... but now you've been turned into one.
Relationships: Slimy (Crusader of Centy)/Reader
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

You slowly open your eyes.  


Last thing you remember, it was dusk. You were looking through the trees into the monster settlement, trying to make everything out through the darkness. You must have fallen to the ground. Maybe one of the monsters used a spell on you? It doesn't seem to hurt, but you can't quite feel your limbs yet.  


You look around. Everything seems a lot brighter. You must have been there all night. A large tree looms behind you - you can tell by its shadow. The sound of the river seems so clear, and yet so far away. A handful of buildings are in the distance, and you can tell from here that one of them's got a handful of people inside. You figure it's time you got off the ground.  


But you've forgotten how.  


You try to turn your head, but no matter where you look, all you see is the grass around you. You try to reach out, and there's just... nothing.  


You close your eyes and pay attention to the sounds around you. You hear the wind in the trees, the flutter of the wings of a beetle thirty yards away. There's no way something like that should be possible for a human being like you.  


Maybe you aren't human anymore.  


You try your best to really pay attention to what your senses are telling you. You feel the air around your body. You feel it in front of your eyes, behind and around your head. You stick your tongue out and lick the dirt. You smell... nothing.  


So _that's_ what you are. A slime. Just one measly slime.  


You've probably stepped on a dozen of them in the past week alone. Maybe it's some sort of punishment. You probably deserve it, after all.  


This must be the monster settlement, then, and the reason it looks so bright? Your giant slimy eyes. Another quick look reveals that all your stuff is gone. No sword, no shield, no clothes. A breeze brushes past your head, and you realize you've still got your hat on. You'll hang onto that hat if it's the last thing you do.  


You start to make your way over to the building. As you slither across the grass for what seems like an eternity, you wonder if you'll actually ever make it. And what will you do when you get there? You don't know who's waiting. Humans? They'll probably kill you on sight. Monsters? They'll figure out you're not one of them, and _then_ they'll kill you.  


It was bound to happen eventually, you suppose. You know it's the law that every boy in the village needs to go out and fight monsters. But you were never any good at it. Not like your dad.  


You wonder if your mom will ever find out what happened to you - what you've been reduced to. It's probably better she doesn't know. You'll be dead soon anyway; better they don't know the humiliation you had to go through first.  


* * *

You get whacked in the side by a wooden door and go flying four feet into a bush.  


It doesn't hurt. The feeling of flying through the air was actually kind of fun. And the bush - a spiky sort of bush, the kind you've pricked your finger on in the garden - it doesn't hurt at all.  


You try to look down, further and further, until you've turned them so far you're looking back into your own body. You can't tell what color it is - do your eyes not see color? - but what's _very_ clear is that one of the branches has gone straight through your body. You're literally hanging from the bush, completely impaled by its branches. And you feel fine.  


A two-legged figure approaches and pulls you off. He holds you under his arm.  


"You've gotta pay more attention, kid." You can't see who's carrying you. It sounds like a woman, but you don't know if she's human, monster, or whatever else. She seems to take pity on you, though. The mysterious figure sets you down on the ground with both hands, making sure you're facing toward something. A tree, in the distance, with an opening cut in its trunk.  


* * *

You look up at the tree.

You'd been counting in your head, and it had taken you the better part of five minutes to get over here. You take a peek inside. It seems cozy enough. But it's full of other slimes; a handful of small ones like you, and a big one. She's a different color from the rest, that's for sure. They don't seem to notice you.

You're not sure you want to go in. You're not really a slime, after all. You're a human. You're one of the bad guys. It surprises you how quickly you admit that to yourself. But you always kind of knew.

You notice a sound in the distance. The sound of metal striking metal. You turn around, and in front of your eyes, not ten yards away...

You know him. He's your age, but he's already faster and stronger than you'll ever be. The town's next great hero, they say. Obnoxious and unrelatable. You never liked being around him. You were scared you'd never be like him, or so you thought. As he towers over you with his sword, you realize what really terrified you: the idea that maybe you were like him all along.  


But his sword is not turned on you.  


At least, not anymore. He's locked in a stalemate with another human. Another boy your age, with a sword and a shield like yours.  


Your old nemesis says something to his counterpart. You can't understand it - you don't speak the human tongue any longer. But the other boy says nothing at all as he slowly circles around to stand between his opponent and you.  


He's _protecting_ you.  


The bully tries to protest a few times. Each time, he's met with nothing but silence. Eventually, he gives up and walks away, back through the trees.  


The boy turns around. He tosses his shield and sword aside and sits down, cross-legged, in front of you. He picks you up looks into your eyes.  


"Slimy," he says.  


You blink a few times. You don't know how, but you can understand him.  


"That's what they call me. My real name is Clay. Or... I suppose it's your name, now." His gaze drifts off to the side. "I'm the one who... took your body."

* * *

You squint, trying to get a good look at his face.  


Well, _your_ face.  


Although, honestly, it's hard to tell. You thought it would be like looking in a mirror, but that face doesn't look familiar to you at all. Maybe it's different, with him in the body instead of you? Or maybe, now that you're in a slime's body, your mind just can't recognize human faces anymore.  


It doesn't help that he's still kind of blurry. You ask if he needs glasses.  


"I, uh... I took your body. That's the first question you wanna ask? You're not gonna try and bite me or something?" He grabs your hat off the ground \- it must have fallen off at some point - and places it back on your head. "I mean, look at what I did to you. You're nothing but a slime now."  


You wonder what's wrong with being a slime. He ought to know, right? He used to be one. So you ask him as much.  


He sighs. "Slimes are pathetic, worthless little things. I can't believe I ever thought I'd be anything more than that. And now I've ruined both our lives."  


He looks haunted. The way he's talking, you figure there's no way to undo what he did, or else he already would have. You don't really understand why, but it seems like a sore point for him and you don't want to upset him any further.  


* * *

He sets you back down in front of the tree. At first, you think he's going to lead you inside, but instead, he grabs his things - your things, really, not that you need them anymore - and walks away. The forest is dark by now, and you realize you can finally see clearly.  


One of the slimes starts to pull you inside by grabbing onto your back with his mouth.  


"Knock it off, Gooey." Another slime approaches from your right. This one's green, just like you. "You're gonna scare the kid half to death."  


"Come on, Squishy, I'm not gonna _eat_ him." Gooey lets go of you anyway, but not before he's pulled you inside the tree trunk. You do a little backwards somersault and end up upside down, looking into the eyes of the biggest slime you've ever seen.  


She looks into yours.  


You wonder how you're going to break it to her. To tell her that you're not her son, and that her son is never going to be the same again.  


"So you're the human?" she asks.  


You try to nod, before remembering that you're an upside-down slime. So you say yes.  


She seems taken aback. "You can understand us?"  


It might not be _entirely_ Slimy's fault, you say. You've been in kind of a pickle recently, since at some point you started being able to talk to monsters, and then you couldn't talk to humans anymore, and your friends are all humans, and so is your mom so it was this whole thing-”  


"Did you ever talk to him? Before he switched bodies with you?"  


No, you tell her. Should you have?  


"The point is," she says, "that he did this to you without permission. Yours, or mine." She sighs. (Her sigh sounds just like his; must be a family thing.) "I don't want to see you lost and alone out there. I'll take care of you for now. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do the same for him."  


* * *

You don't remember falling asleep, but when you wake up, Gooey is laying on top of you. It doesn't feel weird, though. It feels pleasant. Like there's someone there with you, to keep you company.  


You notice that their mom is gone. You wonder where she went. Oh, that's right. She went to the witch's house a few minutes ago. But wait, weren't you asleep? Yeah, but Gooey was awake.  


You're seeing his memories, aren't you? You ask him if he's seeing yours, too.  


"Not all of them," he says. "Just the ones you're showing me. This is how we communicate with each other. By showing each other our inner selves."  


You ask him what your inner self is like.  


"Soft," he says. "A lot more complicated then us. But mostly soft."  


You wonder what he means by that.  


Two of the other slimes slither over to your corner of the room. One of them gently pushes Gooey off and squishes herself between the two of you, making a little triangle. The other pulls himself on top.  


He starts singing.  


Maybe it's not so much _song_ as it is _music_. It's a slow, quiet, ethereal melody. It seems to echo off the walls of the little cave they've carved in the old tree. Gooey joins in, and so does his sister. They sing harmonies with each other. None of them take the lead - they each make changes to their tone, trying new combinations.  


It could just be your new slime ears, but it's the most beautiful thing you've heard in your life.

* * *

_You try to pull yourself forward, one inch at a time. It's late at night, and what little body heat you have is being lost to the cold stone roads. You can see your house coming into view. You know your mom's inside. All you have to do is get there before you freeze to death.  
_

_You can see her looking through the window in the front door. She must have seen you coming. All you have to do is let her see you. She'll know it's you, won't she?  
_

_As you slither_ _ _up to the welcome mat, s_ he lets go of the door. Its entire weight falls on you and turns your gelatinous body into powder.  
_

You wake up inside the den in the tree trunk. You've probably only been asleep an hour or so. The wind is blowing in through the open doorway, and the fireplace has died down. The other slimes are surrounding you, squishing themselves into your back and sides to get as much physical contact as they can, but when they notice you're awake they back off a little.  


"Are you all right?" asks Gooey.  


Just a little cold, you say. You shiver a little - almost like a vibration \- to try and warm up a bit.  


"You were having a vision," the mom slime says. "You couldn't hear us \- our thoughts or our words. We were worried about you."  


You adjust yourself to lean up against her, and do your best to explain to the other slimes what dreams are. You're kind of surprised you're still having them. Maybe it's because of how much you miss your mom.  


"Why do you miss her," Gooey asks, "if she wants to kill you?"  


Of course she doesn't want to kill her own son, you explain. But she didn't know it was you. She thought it was a monster trying to eat her. You remind them that you can't talk to humans anymore, so there's no way she'd know it was you.  


Which is probably good, you add. If she accidentally killed her own son, it would be better if she never found out.  


"What about your hat?" asks Squishy. "You were wearing it in the dream."  


You had forgotten about the hat. Did she not see it? Did she think you stole it from her son? Is that why she wanted to kill you? Would she even know the door trick?  


"Everyone knows the door trick," Gooey says. "First thing you learn as a slime is never stand in front of anything heavy."  


* * *

You decide you're tired of other people watching your dreams, so you venture outside on your own. It's well past sunset, so the light isn't blindingly bright like it was during the day. There's only one person around here who you _know_ can't read your mind.  


The witch's house is pretty cozy. Slimy is curled up in a small bed, a lot like the one you have back home. He's under three layers of sheets and has his arms around a pillow. You can't tell if he's awake, but you feel like the proper slime etiquette would be to climb up into the bed with him.  


"Who's there?" he mumbles.  


You tell him your name.  


He pushes the pillow aside and takes you in his arms. You can feel the warmth of his body, even through his thick pajamas.  


"I'm so lonely," he tells you. "I can't read minds anymore. It's like everyone's just acting. They all seem so fake now. How did I ever have a crush on one?"  


You ask about the crush.  


"She's a girl in the human village," he says. "Not the one you're from \- the one close by. She's your age."  


You figure that must be why he wanted to be human.  


"Yeah. I thought that would be enough. But I couldn't talk to her. And I didn't know humans couldn't share emotions and I- I tried to cuddle her. And she ran away from me. I didn't know humans weren't supposed to do that! I think I hurt her, and I didn't wanna make her feel bad. I don't ever wanna see her again, or I might mess up again and make it worse."  


He squeezes you tightly. You can't feel his emotions directly, but his body language isn't leaving a lot in doubt. You feel bad for the kid. If only he could have just fallen in love with another slime, like all the other slimes do. If that is what they do. You don't really know.  


"My mom doesn't know what to do with me," he says. "Do you think I should go find yours?"  


You hesitate. Your mom is going to know it's not you in that body, and not just because he can't speak human. His mannerisms are so much different from yours. He walks different. It's hard to explain, but it's there.  


Then again, your mom's pretty nice to people, usually. You hope the fact that he's got your body will be enough to stop her from dropping a door on him.  


You ask him if you can come with.  



	2. Chapter 2

Slimy gathers up the equipment he needs for the trip: your sword, your shield, and the clothes you had been wearing (plus a couple more outfits that a giant talking spider had made from its own silk; she had also been nice enough to make you an extra hat in case you lost the first one). You help him make a map that should guide the two of you around any major settlements, where his inability to speak the human language won't get the two of you into trouble.

You spend the next day curled up inside a bag that Slimy wears on his back. It's comforting, the way the fabric pushes in on you and keeps you warm and cozy. At night, he takes you out and talks to you. Since he isn't a slime anymore, verbal communication has become the only way for him to connect with people; even though you _are_ a slime, you still prefer normal speech to the monsters' mind meld. The two of you have nobody but each other to rely on.  


It's not possible to avoid other humans entirely, though.  


The two of you are about a day's walk outside the monster village, climbing a hill, when you hear the footsteps of another human. You feel Slimy take a few steps backwards, and then hear the warrior's blade strike his, forcing him to drop your bag to the ground. You hit the dirt and roll backwards down the slope for a few yards before hitting a rock face-first. It doesn't hurt, but you can't see anything but the chunk of stone in front of you.  


"Who are you to bring a monster near our village?"  


It's the human. _You can understand him._ He leaves Slimy alone and slowly descends the slope, his footsteps approaching. You don't know what he's going to do to you.  


You beg him not to hurt you.  


He picks you up and holds you above his head, holding a chunk of your slimy green body in his fist and letting the rest dangle. He looks into your eyes.  


"You can speak?"  


Behind him, you see Slimy running down the hill. He's only had legs for a month; you wonder how he doesn't fall over. He falls to his knees. "Please don't hurt him," he begs. "He's like this because of me! He's the only one I have left."  


You know the human can't understand it, though. You wiggle out of his grasp and fall on the ground, then proceed to tell the truth... at least, some of it. The kid's name is Clay, you tell him. (That's a normal human name, right?) Because of a curse, he can't talk to other humans. But he didn't have to live with monsters his whole life.  


The human glares at you for a second or so, then skewers you on the dull end of his spear and walks away. You wince, but the pain never comes, so you look over at Slimy to let him know you're okay. He has a dejected, apologetic look on his face.  


"I can't do this," Slimy says. "I don't know how to fight."  


* * *

The two of you turn around and head back to the monsters' village. But instead of taking you back to the tree, Slimy takes you to the witch's house. He holds you under his left arm and uses his right to punch the door open.  


"He can talk to humans again," he says. "You must have been wrong. You need to get him back in his body. I don't care if it kills me."  


You look up at Slimy. He shouldn't talk about himself that way, you tell him. You latch onto his arm with your mouth. You're not going to let him go.  


"I can't," the witch says. "I won't. We can't let him have that sort of power."  


"What has he done?" asks Slimy. "What makes you think he's so bad?"  


"I've seen the past. I've seen the future." The witch sits down in her chair. "If we hadn't kidnapped him, he would have destroyed us all."  


" _We?_ This was _your_ idea? I thought that I had destroyed someone's life! Do you know how that made me feel?"  


"Just be glad you're still alive."  


Slimy collapses on the ground. He's curled up, laying on his side, and sobbing. He holds onto you tighter than ever. You pull yourself out just a little so you can see the witch. She's looking at you, but she's not saying anything. It's hard to read her face.  


You ask her what she saw.  


* * *

She takes you to a quiet nook under a small tree in her backyard.  


"When you lost your ability to speak to other humans," she says, "you started making friends. With other creatures. You connected with them; you really _knew_ them. You were never like that with the other human kids, were you? At least not most of them."  


Her face is lit up by the moonlight. A passing breeze blows a leaf from the tree onto your face, and you shake it off. It falls on the ground in front of you.  


"You eventually would have been able to talk to them again," she continues, "even without my help. You thought that if you could only tell everyone how nice we were, they'd stop fighting us. But it didn't work. You only made it worse. So you gave up hope. You went back in time to stop humans and monsters from ever meeting each other."   


That's when you realize what you must have done, in that alternate timeline she saw. You had to make a choice: your friends, or your family.  


There was no way you could betray your mom.  


You look up at the witch and tell her she was right about you.  


"No!"  


You turn around. Slimy is standing in front of the back door of the house. He's still crying. He puts one hand on the table to steady himself.  


"We can't live like this!" he says. "There are more and more humans every day! We're not going to survive much longer! If we're all gonna die, can't we at least save the lives of the people _we_ killed?"  


You try to protest. You try to tell him that his life is worth something too.  


"So is your father's! Don't you think I know what that's like? To lose someone? I'm never gonna get him back, but if you can bring your dad back to life... I will give _anything_."  


The witch kneels down on the grass. She puts her hand on your head. You turn again to look at her.  


"Tell the other monsters I'm sorry," she says. "He's right. I can't keep you here."

* * *

"What's the problem?" Gooey slides up to you, stopping a couple inches away from your face, and looks right into your eyes. "I thought you would be happy that you get to be a human again."  


Your body deflates a bit as you let out a sigh. It's what the witch said before, you tell him. She said if she let you go, you'd kill all the monsters.  


"No, you'd just make us stop existing," he says as if to correct you. "That's not the same thing."  


Yes it is.  


"No, this way there's not monster guts everywhere."  


Gooey doesn't seem bothered by the impending destruction of his race. The monsters really are different from you. If you had any doubt that your mind was still human, this puts it to rest.  


"Do you think you will, though?" he asks.  


You don't want to think of yourself as the sort of person who would do that. Who would destroy an entire race to save his own people. But you could still see yourself doing it. And she said you'd do it - can't she see the future? Wouldn't she know?  


"Oh, by the way." Gooey turns and slithers out the door. "I was gonna help you pack, but it looks like you did already."  


Your eyes move slowly around your body as you look towards the corner of the room where you put all your weapons and armor. They're all gone.  


There's only one person who could have taken them.  


* * *

You find the witch sitting on the ground outside her house, her back against the wall. She doesn't take her eyes off the grass in front of her as you approach.  


"I should have known it wasn't you in the vision," she says. "I just never thought that he would... I've doomed them all. The monsters... they're not going to exist soon. They'll be gone forever."  


So the witch isn't a monster?  


"I've lived here for... a long time," she says. "I'm from the city, like you. Faked my own death just to get away from my family. They wanted me to fight monsters. I couldn't do it."  


You ask if anyone else knows she's alive.  


"Just the pastor from the church," she says. "My brother. I just hope he's still around in the new timeline. He's the only one who ever liked me. Even when he knew I was doing magic. I'll never get it. I never got any of them. You didn't either, did you?"  


This might be the last chance you get to talk, so you figure it's best to be honest with her. No, you don't understand the other humans. But you don't understand the monsters either. You don't really understand anyone.  


"The other monsters know they don't have much time left," she says. "They seem all right with it. But I should have been able to stop this. Now Slimy's out there in your body, committed to his little time-travel holy war, and he's going to--"  


The witch finally turns her head to look at you.  


"Wait. He's in _your_ body. Aren't people going to recognize him? They'll think he's you."  


You stare blankly at her with your big green eyes. Why does that matter?  


"Because surely there's at least _one_ person who will know it's not you in there. And they're gonna get suspicious. Maybe we're not done yet."  


* * *

It's been almost two weeks. Despite the impending end of the world, nothing has really changed, other than the witch's mood. And - if you're being totally honest - your own. It's not so much the upending of the order of things that has you upset; after growing up in a city that wages constant war against monsters, you don't really have a strong sense of normalcy. But you're starting to realize how much you depended on Slimy. With him gone, there's no one who really understands what you're going through. What it's like to be in a body not your own, with all the unfamiliar, overwhelming sensations it brings.

You've spent each night since then sleeping under the back of the tree, the shade protecting you from the moonlight. But this morning, a familiar voice wakes you up from your sleep.

"It _is_ you, isn't it?"  


You open your eyes. Your own mother, dressed in a shining suit of armor, is kneeling over you.

* * *

"I knew it wasn't you in that body," your mother says, as she sits on a rock by a stream with your slimy round body on her lap. She strokes your head. "I didn't tell him, though. You think I should have? He seems like such a scared kid."  


She's right about that. You tell her about the witch's vision, about Slimy's crusade to go back in time and stop the monsters from ever existing. Including himself.  


"I knew he was going to do something drastic," she says. "But I don't think I could've stopped him. His mind seemed set on it." She looks down into your eyes. "I hate to say it, but I almost hope he succeeds. If he doesn't... he's in your body. Everyone's going to think it was you."  


Well, you don't have to worry about that, at least. Slimy can keep your body, that's all right. You're a monster now.  


"Not if he does what he's trying to do. It'll never have happened. But at least you'll be all right. You'll be a human again, and we won't be at war."  


You don't say anything. You just listen to the sound of the stream, feeling it flow through your ears.  


"You miss him, don't you?"  



	3. Chapter 3

_Take everything in and hold onto it._ _Just try to remember._

You're a young human living in Soleil Town with your mom, dad, and your two little sisters. They might be younger than you, but they certainly have more friends than you do.  
  
You just can't seem to engage with the real world. Everyone looks the same, and you feel like you don't understand anyone. You keep getting lost in daydreams, about a world of monsters, and especially your imaginary friend, a slime named Slimy. You know it's not a creative name, but you've grown attached to it. You poke at a pillow on the couch. Its shape reminds you of him.  


Sometimes, you like to imagine Slimy as a human, and yourself as a slime. What would it feel like to slither on the ground? To be squished under a rock? To stretch yourself to cover a space meters across?  


Your mom sits down next to you and gives you a hug. "I had a dream last night that you were trapped in a monster's body," she says. "Maybe it was from you talking about it, but it was so scary... You were stuck with the other monsters on the northeast part of the island."  


That's odd.  


"I know, monsters aren't real."  


But what you actually mean is that there is no northeast part of the island. It runs right into the edge of the world - everyone knows that. That's why the ocean currents are the way they are. (You do like learning about ocean currents and stuff like that. Maybe that's what you'll do for a job.)  


Your mom turns to address your dad, who's sitting at the table working on a crossword puzzle. "What do you think would happen if we went to the edge of the world?" she asks.  


"Well," he says. "I never really thought about it. Is this about your dreams?"  


"I'm worried about them. What if it means something? And before you say anything: I think I need to be the one to take him. If I do go, you should stay here with the girls."  


* * *

The trip was long, but uneventful. You and your mom were well-prepared and made it across the island without issue. The two of you finally arrived in Iris, the small village that bordered the edge of the universe.  


"There are no monsters," the woman tells you. "Not anymore."  


You take a sip from a cup of tea. You had a strange dream the night before: that you and your mom had crossed past the edge of the world, and that you'd both turned into monsters. She'd had a dream like that too, but for her it was more like a nightmare. A woman in the nearby village of Iris found you the next morning and offered you a place to stay.  


"There was a creature, once," she continues. "The mother of monsters. Before the world began, back when all was shrouded in darkness. A valiant human warrior rose to meet her, from origins unknown. The monster was defeated, allowing humanity to be brought into the world."  


But (you wonder aloud), what's stopping someone from traveling back in time and stopping that warrior from killing the monster?  


"Humans can't go back in time," she tells you.  


You think about that for a bit.  


If there was no light in the world back then, how could the warrior have been human?  


But she didn't say time travel was impossible, did she? She said _humans_ couldn't do it.  


For some reason, your mind turns to Slimy. Your old imaginary friend, who you used to imagine swapping bodies with. You had never really thought that much about what he might do in _your_ body. He grew up as a slime. He never had a sense of self-preservation. If he liked you as much as you liked him, and he suddenly had all the power of a human warrior? Would he do something as drastic as that?  


Well, he'd try. But the question is - could he go through with it?  


You ask what the monster mom was like.  


"She had no form of her own," the woman says. "but it's said that she would appear to those who laid eyes on her so as to reveal one's true soul."  


Slimy thought he could be a warrior, but he was really just an innocent kid. If he somehow made it to the mother of all monsters? What would he see?  


And could he really go through with killing her?  


* * *

_Slimy stared down the ancient monster. He trembled before her, in a way he didn't know a human body could.  
_

_Nobody had asked him to do this, but he had taken it upon itself. All his life, he had wanted nothing more than to grow beyond himself, beyond the monsters, to find out what humans were really like. But the human body he had stolen had shown him the true nature of human existence. So much heat, so much cold, so much pain. He couldn't so much as walk through a forest without some sharp-toothed serpent trying to tear his skin apart with its fangs.  
_

_But the human he'd taken the body from... he had been so merciful, so understanding. And so much deeper, in his thoughts and feelings, than any monster he had ever met.  
_

_The monsters had outlived their welcome. They were holding humanity back.  
_

_Slimy raised his sword, pointing it at the giant monster's face. He had gone to the sky, to the depths of the ocean, to the beginning of time, and now he was face to face with Mother Monster - the ancestor of his entire race.  
_

_He was going to create a better future. One that didn't have any monsters to spoil it.  
_

* * *

_"Clay?"  
_

_Slimy opened his eyes. Mother Monster looked over him.  
_

_"Don't feel bad," she continued. "You're young. I'm glad you didn't go through with it."  
_

_Her voice sounded familiar...  
_

_"Mom?"  
_

_"You could say that," she replied. "You could also say that I'm you. All monsters' souls exist within me. All that will ever exist. I knew you were coming, Clay. I knew you couldn't go through with it."  
_

_"Then... the humans..."  
_

_"Don't worry. I'll make sure the creation doesn't take place."  
_

_Slimy sat upright with a jolt. "No..." His voice faded as he realized what he had done. Instead of erasing his own kind from history, he'd erased the humans. "Please don't do that."  
_

_"I didn't want to," Mother Monster said as she began to walk towards the door. "I thought we could live together. But the way that timeline ended... It's not possible. I'm sorry."  
_

_"So I'm going to be alone all my life?"  
_

_She stopped in her tracks.  
_

_Slimy realized - it wasn't about monsters and humans. It was about one human. The one who had talked to him, who had kept him company, when no one else would.  
_

_"Mom, please... I can't live in a world where he doesn't exist."_

* * *

  


It wasn't you, this time, in the dream.  


Usually, you dream about being in the body of a monster, but you're still you in those dreams. This time, it was someone who wasn't you, but who was in your body.  


Could this be what actually happened with Slimy? Was he really the monster from the story who went back in time?  


Two things come to mind right away. First - if the monsters weren't killed off after all, then maybe Slimy really does exist, still, somewhere out there. And second... if Mother Monster was going to stop the humans from ever being created, then why are you still here?  


Your host gently opens the door to yoour bedroom.  


"Sorry if I woke you," she says, "but your mom is... breathing fire. A little bit."  


* * *

"I may not have been entirely honest with you," she says as you take a seat on the bench by the front door of her cabin. "Truth is, I'm a witch."  


You admit that you figured out as much when you saw that your mom had grown a pointy tail and was coughing up flames.  


"It's all right," your mom says. "It's because of our proximity to the world's edge. I'm just feeling a little warm - she says it's not anything life-threatening."  


You look at yourself. You wonder aloud why you look the same as always.  


"It's hard for a human's soul to keep control of a dragon's body," the witch explains, "especially this close to the perimiter. But it doesn't take a whole lot to shape the body of a slime." She smiles. "I'm one too."  


She's not human?  


"Well, my soul is human, just like yours. But, well, there really is no such thing as humans. Never has been. Not in this timeline, anyway. Once your creator realized there were other beings on this world, he just... never created us."  


"Then why do we exist?" your mom asks.  


"The monster who went back in time to kill the progenitor of his race? He wasn't exactly successful. But it got the attention of the mother of monsterhood and the father of humanity. They decided that humans and monsters could never exist together, that they could never survive on the same world."  


You ask her why not.  


"Humans need light," she says, "and monsters need darkness. But that one little monster who tried to change history, well, he stuck around. He insisted that the human souls - they all existed within the Father, just as the monsters' existed within the Mother - he wanted them to be able to live their lives. So, eventually, they found a way. The Mother created new monster bodies, and the Father put human souls into them. And the little one? He created a grand illusion. To make the humans think they were human, and to make the world look like one they could live in."  


"So," your mom says, "we're all actually monsters. Everyone back home, they are too. And everything else - the apples? They aren't really apples, are they? They're some kind of monster fruit."  


"Do you name a thing for what it looks like? What it does? What it means?" The witch leaned back in her chair. "Names are a hairy thing."  



End file.
